Collaborative Lesson Plan

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Partners: Amanda Boswell & Melinda Lanham
Dr. M.
Template for Collaborative Lesson Plan – A. 4.2

Follow this lesson plan template. Keep the template text in bold font. Add your information in regular font.
Planning
  • Reading Comprehension Strategy
    • Questioning
  • Reading Development Level
    • Advanced (10th Grade)
  • Research-based Instructional Strategies
    • Questions (Not one of Marzano, Pickering, and Pollock's strategies)
    • Note taking
    • Summarizing
    • Cooperative Learning
  • Lesson Length
    • Three 90-minute sessions (or facilitate as an ongoing 6 weeks-long inquiry project)
  • Purpose
    • The purpose of this project is to record questions before, during, and after reading to prompt students to think more deeply about the lives of teens in the Holocaust.
    • Students will record questions on a graphic organizer and note QARs.
    • Students will evaluate questions and sources to determine the helpfulness and quality of each.
  • Objectives
    • At the end of these sessions, students will be able to:
      1. Seek out and evaluate a variety of resources on children/teens of the Holocaust;
      2. Determine a list of questions within a group to evaluate the life and treatment of children/teens in concentration camps;
      3. Complete a note-taking spreadsheet while researching;
      4. Complete a works cited spreadsheet;
      5. Create a Web 2.0 presentation of their findings using Prezi, Glogster, or Animoto.
  • Resources, Materials, and Equipment
  • Collaboration
    • Educators demonstrate collaborative learning and model the questioning strategy to understand and draw conclusions from a biographical Holocaust passage.
    • Both educators monitor as students work in small groups to question and draw conclusions from additional biographical Holocaust passages/stories.
  • Assessment
    • The students’ note-taking graphic organizers assess their ability to develop questions throughout the research process and determine QARs.
    • Students complete works cited graphic organizers to record and assess the quality of their sources.
    • The students’ final presentations assess their ability to draw conclusions and present organized thoughts to an audience. Students in audience assess the speaking and presentation abilities of their peers using established rubric.
    • Educators use established rubric to assess the quality of the graphic organizers, as well as the presentation products.
    • Holocaust Project Viewing Rubric.pdf
    • Holocaust Project Rubric.pdf
  • Standards (from the TEKS or other state standards)
    • Reading and/or writing
      • TEKS 110.32. English Language Arts and Reading, English II - Not that I am suggesting you add standards, but your lesson is very strong in planning the inquiry: §110.32.b. (20)
      • (b) Knowledge and skills.
        • (9) Reading/Comprehension of Informational Text/Expository Text. Students analyze, make inferences and draw conclusions about expository text and provide evidence from text to support their understanding. Students are expected to:
          • (D) synthesize and make logical connections between ideas and details in several texts selected to reflect a range of viewpoints on the same topic and support those findings with textual evidence.
        • (23) Research/Organizing and Presenting Ideas. Students organize and present their ideas and information according to the purpose of the research and their audience. Students are expected to synthesize the research into a written or an oral presentation that:
          • (D) uses a variety of evaluative tools (e.g., self-made rubrics, peer reviews, teacher and expert evaluations) to examine the quality of the research; and
          • (E) uses a style manual (e.g., Modern Language Association, Chicago Manual of Style) to document sources and format written materials.
    • Listening and speaking (I think this is under Research/Organizing and Presenting Ideas as you note below.)
      • TEKS 110.32. English Language Arts and Reading, English II
      • (b) Knowledge and skills.
        • (23) Research/Organizing and Presenting Ideas. Students organize and present their ideas and information according to the purpose of the research and their audience. Students are expected to synthesize the research into a written or an oral presentation that:
          • (B) provides an analysis for the audience that reflects a logical progression of ideas and a clearly stated point of view;
    • Other content areas
      • TEKS 113.42. World History Studies
      • (c) Knowledge and skills.
        • (12) History. The student understands the causes and impact of World War II. The student is expected to:
          • (B) explain the roles of various world leaders, including Benito Mussolini, Adolf Hitler, Hideki Tojo, Joseph Stalin, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Winston Churchill, prior to and during World War II; and
          • (C) explain the major causes and events of World War II, including the German invasions of Poland and the Soviet Union, the Holocaust, Japanese imperialism, the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Normandy landings, and the dropping of the atomic bombs.
        • (22) Citizenship. The student understands the historical development of significant legal and political concepts related to the rights and responsibilities of citizenship. The student is expected to:
          • (D) identify examples of genocide, including the Holocaust and genocide in the Balkans, Rwanda, and Darfur;
        • (29) Social studies skills. The student applies critical-thinking skills to organize and use information acquired from a variety of valid sources, including electronic technology. The student is expected to:
          • (C) explain the differences between primary and secondary sources and examine those sources to analyze frame of reference, historical context, and point of view;
    • Educational technology
      • TEKS 110.32. English Language Arts and Reading, English II
      • (b) Knowledge and skills.
        • (22) Research/Synthesizing Information. Students clarify research questions and evaluate and synthesize collected information. Students are expected to:
          • (B) evaluate the relevance of information to the topic and determine the reliability, validity, and accuracy of sources (including Internet sources) by examining their authority and objectivity;
    • Information literacy (or AASL Indicators)
      • Standard 1: Inquire, think critically, and gain knowledge.
        • 1.1 Skills
          • 1.1.1 Follow an inquiry-based process in seeking knowledge in curricular subjects, and make the real-world connection for using this process in own life.
          • 1.1.3 Develop and refine a range of questions to frame the search for new understanding.
          • 1.1.4 Find, evaluate, and select appropriate sources to answer questions.
        • 1.3 Responsibilities
          • 1.3.1 Respect copyright/intellectual property rights of creators and producers.
          • 1.3.5 Use information technology responsibly.
        • 1.4 Self-Assessment Strategies
          • 1.4.2 Use interaction with and feedback from teachers and peers to guide own inquiry process.
      • Standard 2: Draw conclusions, make informed decisions, apply knowledge to new situations, and create new knowledge.
        • 2.1 Skills
          • 2.1.1 Continue an inquiry-based research process by applying critical- thinking skills (analysis, synthesis, evaluation, organization) to information and knowledge in order to construct new understandings, draw conclusions, and create new knowledge.
          • 2.1.6 Use the writing process, media and visual literacy, and technology skills to create products that express new understandings.
      • Standard 3: Share knowledge and participate ethically and productively as members of our democratic society.
        • 3.1 Skills
          • 3.1.4 Use technology and other information tools to organize and display knowledge and understanding in ways that others can view, use, and assess.
        • 3.2 Dispositions in Action
          • 3.2.3 Demonstrate teamwork by working productively with others.
        • 3.4 Self-Assessment Strategies
          • 3.4.2 Assess the quality and effectiveness of the learning product.
      • Standard 4: Pursue personal and aesthetic growth.
        • 4.3 Responsibilities
          • 4.3.1 Participate in the social exchange of ideas, both electronically and in person.
Implementation
  • Process
  • Day 1
    • Motivation - Is there a multimedia selection on one of your Symbaloo resources that could set the tone for this study. I found a few on the Holocaust Memorial Channel:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCXo3dHTIdA&playnext=1&list=PL6BE9E8D3E385D496&feature=results_main
    • Students will be asked to individually brainstorm on paper some of the activities they do on a typical day. After they have been given adequate time to create the list, they will form small groups and share their list. Some students may have many things in common, some students will have unique responsibilities. Students will then begin to list some common activities for a “typical” teenager (go to school, do homework, go to practice, etc…). Groups will be asked to write each item on a post it and post the group’s notes to the “Typical American Teenager” chart posted on the wall. The teacher and librarian will lead a discussion reviewing some of the things they’ve learned about Concentration camps in World History. They will then asked the groups to collaborate to develop a list of events that may be typical of a Jewish teen in a concentration camp. They will put these on post its and add them to the chart for a “Teen in a Concentration Camp”. The teacher and librarian will lead discussion as they transfer the post its to a large Venn Diagram posted on the wall. Students will use this brainstorm to launch into research.
    • Is there a way to take a more full advantage of having two educators facilitating the discussion? What about them each taking a perspective (typical teen and teen in concentration camp? Then applying think-alouds as they transfer the sticky notes.
    • Student-friendly objectives
      1. Raise hand to respond to the questions posed.
      2. Actively collaborate to make contributions to the class charts.
      3. Utilize the research techniques previously learned to begin collaborative research.
    • Presentation
    • The educators need to model with think-alouds in the presentation section of the lesson. This is a good opportunity to demonstrate how to ask questions prompted by resources.
    • Begin by projecting a few pictures from the resource books using the projector and discuss their reactions to the pictures. Distribute the Note-taking graphic organizer and model note taking of an excerpt of one of the resources. Students will also be directed to the pathfinders online and the database system to utilize during research. Students will also be directed to utilize the Work Cited handout and Bibme.org to cite the resources used. Once in collaborative groups, brainstorm possible research topics relevant to the Holocaust. Students will use their guiding questions to conduct research on the life of a teen in a concentration camp.
    • Student participation procedures Students will use prior knowledge and the new resources to generate research questions.
      Conduct research using a variety of resources.
      Students will use the librarian-generated note-taking model to keep track of research and the work cited sheet to keep track of resources.
      Begin to organize research and reflect of the differences between a concentration camp teen’s life and the student’s life (complete as homework, if needed).
Guided practice
Educators monitor students groups as they generate questions and as they are researching. Help students refine questions as needed.
    • Closure
Have students write one interesting new piece of information they learned through today’s questioning and research on an exit ticket.
    • Reflection
        1. How did your prior knowledge of the Holocaust help you generate questions?
        2. Did you refine your questions while conducting research?
        3. Why or Why not?
Day 2
  • Process
    • Motivation - What are the educators doing to motivate/engage students?
      • Cues and Questions: What sorts of activities do you get online to do? How much time do you spend online in a day? Why do we spend so much time connected now? Students will connect their own social online experiences to create a social online research product using a Web 2.0 product
    • Student-friendly objectives
      • 1. Record research information.
      • 2. Combine and revise the material gathered in your group.
      • 3. Connect to your own daily lives.
      • 4. Create a Web 2.0 product to present your comparisons.
    • Presentation
      • Show students the suggested resources for Web 2.0 design. Most of the students have used the resources previously, but may need some review. The educators share examples of products generated using the web 2.0 tools and review the basics of each with the students.
    • It would be good for the educators to create a sample project together that meets the criteria they have set out for this assignment.
    • Student participation procedures
    • 1. Continue to conduct research using a variety of resources.
      2. Revise and compare to their own lives.
      3. Continue note taking and work cited.
      4. Begin organizing the information in a Web 2.0 presentation tool. Complete for homework if needed.

    • Guided practice Monitor students as they work and provide instruction and assistance on Web 2.0 tools as needed.
    • Closure
      • Students will participate in a brief discussion on key elements of effective presentations. Review the rubric for presentations.
    • Reflection
      1. Is the Web 2.0 tool more engaging to the students? (Yes or no questions are not the best reflection questions.)
Day 3
  • Process
    • Student-friendly objectives
      • 1. Present collaborative research projects comparing their daily lives to that of a teen n a concentration camp.
      • 2. Evaluate your classmate’s presentations using the assessment rubric.
    • Presentation
    • 1. Go over the assessment rubric and model how students will mark the rubric to assess the other presentations.
      2. Remind students of good presentation habits and good audience habits.
    • Student participation procedures
    • Present information using a Web 2.0 design tool and complete the rubric to assess the other groups as they present.
    • Guided practice
    • 1. Ask questions of each group and encourage the students to ask questions.
    • 2. Remind students to evaluate presentations for content and presentation skills.
    • Closure
Create a “tweet” (120 characters or less) about the most interest piece of information they learned from the presentations. Display the “tweets” is a designated area.
  • Reflection

What could students have done better with in the presentations? Which area was weakest and why?

  • Extensions
    • Continue to refine inquiry skills with projects embedded within each unit that utilizes questioning and graphic organizers. Connect with ELA and read Night to stimulate more connections and questioning.
    • Bring in a Holocaust survivor to speak with the students and share first hand information. Prior to the speaker, have students listen to audio or view video interviews of survivors. Work with students to develop questions before the speaker visits.
    • Give other perspectives on Germany during this time. View the movie, The Boy in Striped Pajamas and compare/contrast the perspectives.

These are worthwhile extensions, especially if they keep students questioning.

(Moreillon 15, 17)Moreillon, J. Collaborative Strategies for Teaching Reading Comprehension: Maximizing Your Impact. Chicago: ALA Editions, 2007.
Moreillon, Judi. Coteaching Reading Comprehension Strategies in Secondary School Libraries: Maximizing Your Impact. Chicago: ALA Editions, 2012.